UEFA grassroots awards best leader: Pat Griffin

Special people do special things at football clubs. Pat Griffin is the special heartbeat of Milton Amateur Football Club in Stirling, Scotland – and his magnificent work has earned him the best leader prize in the 2014 UEFA Grassroots Day Awards.

Along with his brother John, Pat was a founder member of Milton Amateur Football Club in Stirling in 1972 and, to this day, he has served as a player, coach and committee member; a leader in club activities both on and off the field. "My role at the club now is that I just do anything," he says. "I've not got a particular role. But whenever anybody at the club wants something done, they usually phone me, contact me. That's how it works."

The club have had a distinguished history, winning various trophies down the years. Pat was also instrumental in starting the Milton Football and Sports Club in 2004, where they operate a soccer school, eight boys' youth teams, girls' teams and three adult teams. The club have over 350 players representing the various sides, and this continues to grow as the age groups move on and new players join.

However, success was not immediately forthcoming and the story nearly ended soon after it had begun. "At the end of the first season, we became a bit disillusioned and we were going to pack it in," Pat reflects. "Then one night in the local pub there were five or six men sitting behind us, and they overheard us saying that we were going to pack the team in, and they wouldn't have any of it. They said they would form a committee and keep the team going. And we just went on from there."

The team went from strength to strength and, with Griffin among the playing staff, achieved four successive promotions. The club expanded too, increasing from a one-team entity to their modern-day status of 25, covering girls and boys of all ages from four upwards, with a football academy also part of the setup since 2004. "It's just unbelievable, actually unbelievable, how we've snowballed," says Pat. "There's too many to mention by name, but there's a lot of people within the Milton framework who are doing an incredible job."

Pat was also involved in the old ash pitches being developed into an Astroturf surface which the club use most nights for training and matches. He runs a civil engineering company and continues to ensure they are the main sponsors of the club. Pat's dedication, passion and commitment to grassroots and amateur football also earned him the People's Award in 2013 from the Scottish Football Association (SFA).

"This is probably the model we are trying to achieve across the area, really," is the view of Scott Kinross, football development officer at the SFA. "Not every club wants to achieve what's been achieved here, but this is the ultimate goal, trying to have pathways for children to youth, to adult football. Volunteers like Pat and the rest of the guys up here, they're the lifeblood of the game in Scotland ... without them there's just no grassroots football. This is crucial to the game."

Pat has fond memories of a proud moment. "I got an award at Hampden Park [in Glasgow], and it was [former Liverpool FC and Celtic FC great] Kenny Dalglish who presented it to me. I said to Kenny, 'There's a lot of people involved with Milton Amateurs that deserve credit as much as me.' Dalglish turned to me and said something that I'll never forget: 'But you've got to remember, Pat; every bus needs a driver.'

"That became a bit of inspiration again and my enthusiasm has never waned. I want to push the club on and on and on."